Despite the lousy
weather yesterday everyone made it back to Brighouse yesterday after a very
eventful and hopefully for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) worthwhile weekend
of monkey related fundraising!
I apologise for the
length of this page but so many people and organisations were involved and have
been so generous both financially and with their time that I wanted to try and
thank everyone involved and give you my take on the
weekend.
It was definitely a
game of two halves with the halftime entertainment in Scarborough dividing a day
of great weather/fast riding from a day of lousy weather/slow (but safe) riding
punctuated by a variety of planned and unplanned stops. It went something like
this:
We formed up slightly
later than hoped at Bankstone in Brighouse after photographers from the
Brighouse Echo and Huddersfield Examiner got us posing and then doing a ride by
as Kerry Garner from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance waved us off
The bikes that set
off (in alphabetical order) were:
Bankstone Gorilla
(Me)
Bikesure Black (Matt
Sopp and Grant Varnham)
Bikesure Chrome (Lee
Boughen and Tom Lake)
BLD Super Gorilla
(Clay Moule)
BLD tartan seated
shopper (Mike McMillan – thought they said chopper)
Bott and Co (Denis
Wakefield and Malcolm Crompton but mainly Denis)
Colin Waterman on the
big monkey
Jon Fawcett on the
black seated monkey – wise seat swap before the event
Motorbelle Chrome
(Nick Chalkley)
Premier Medical Group
(Matt Dakin and Louis Blenkiron)
Other vehicles in the
convoy were:
Copart lead Shagwar
containing expert lead car driver Martyn Buchan and exemplary navigator and
artistic director Stephen Tacey
PMG van with Graeme
Hills, Louis Blenkiron and YAA related dressing up gear
Bikesure van with
whichever of the Bikesure boys were not on the bikes
Bott and Co Range
Rover with Paul Hinchliffe, Susan Luya, Will and Archie Hinchliffe – all
excellent bucket shakers, Archie was the curly haired 9 year old who reckons he
jangled for the most cash and told people he only took notes!
Bott and Co Passat
with the lovely Bott and Co ladies consisting of Laura Curbishley – driver,
Marie Goulbourne, Georgia Cross, Laura Higginbotham and Katie Race – also
excellent bucket shakers and mobile phone suit wearers
BLD support van with
Chris Bennison and family containing spare fuel and 2 spare
bikes
The first planned
stop was at Websters Insurance in Brighouse town centre where Jez and his staff
made us very welcome and helped us get some great photos, blocking the pavement
with all the bikes lined up across the front of his office, whilst the bucket
shaking crew worked the crowd of bemused onlookers extracting as much cash as
possible for the cause
After a brief stop to
top up the tanks in Keighley we arrived at Colin Appleyard motorcycles where
their customers were encouraged to donate as we formed up for the photos and
then formed an orderly queue for the single toilet. Thank you to Kevin and his
staff for their forbearance as Bernie lurched menacingly around the showroom
whilst Clay and Mike from BLD tried to stem the oil leak from the BLD Gorilla
with some instant gasket.
19 miles covered at this
point.
Back into the saddle
again the plan was to ride non-stop to Ilkley however someone had kindly left
diesel on a sharp right hand bend in Riddlesden which accounted for Matt Dakin
from PMG and me. Unfortunately Matt hurt his wrist and discovered soon after
that he was not able to ride however Louis Blenkiron was able to take over
whilst Matt drove the PMG van. This was a very important role as the van
contained both Bernie the Bear and the Bazza Bank suits which were to make photo
call appearances at most of the stops – Graeme Hills is now an expert at
dressing as a bear – so much so several of us suspect he had been getting some
clandestine practice in since last year.
After a brief
flapjack stop at the picturesque Cow and Calf we descended into Ilkley and lined
the bikes up across the shop front of Moto Strada who had very kindly laid on
some refreshments and handed over a considerable donation for the privilege of
hosting the stop, I am sure the publicity will be worth the effort.
31 miles
covered.
It was then off to
Harrogate however the BLD Gorilla finally gave up at Askwith and Clay swapped to
the spare monkey leaving the Gorilla in the support van. After crossing and
recrossing the reservoirs, and negotiating the fearsome Harrogate one way system
our redoubtable lead car, driven enthusiastically by Martyn Buchan led us to NCi
on Victoria Avenue where we once again proceeded to block the pavement and were
met by Neil, Craig, Richard and some of their staff. We were taken up to the
fourth floor and presented with a fantastic lunch and the loan of some tools for
some running repairs. After a photo call both inside their very impressive
offices (which involved taking one of the monkeys in the lift) and outside, we
once again formed up and headed for Northallerton.
We had travelled 49 miles
at this point. The Bott and Co Range Rover left us at this stop as Paul had
to return home with his family, we missed your bucket shaking once you had
gone!
Our navigator Stephen
Tacey surpassed himself in the choice of roads as we headed North via a brief
fuel stop before arriving at Simon Bailes accident repair centre (thanks to Dave
Rathmell for organising this) where we were joined by Andy Jones to ride the
spare monkey, allowing Clay to ride the BLD Bandit.
99 miles into the
trip.
After the photos had been taken we set off and Clay took on the vital
role of traffic marshal, blocking off roundabouts and junctions to allow the
convoy to stay together. Sutton Bank proved more traumatic than usual as we
were reduced to a crawl and Andy found that it was easy to wheelie (albeit
unintentionally) a tartan seated shopper. The bikers decided to overtake the
offending trucks and waited for the convoy to reform at the top of the hill. It
was then an easy run via a brief fuel stop in Helmsley to our overnight stop in
Scarborough.
169 miles covered in one day.
What can I say about
Scarborough other than we will include the Delmont Hotel on our black list as
well as the Grand! Great sea view but no breakfast until after 8.30 and we hoped
to get away at 9am! Malcolm Crompton from Bott and Co joined us for the
evening’s entertainment and was determined to have a ride on the Bott and Co
monkey despite being slightly less prepared for the weather than most of us.
Chris Bennison and the BLD van had returned to Brighouse with some of the bikes
and it returned Sunday morning piloted by Andy Kinder who very generously gave
the Delmont crew just enough time to consume a McDonalds breakfast before we set
off in the rain in front of the many hotel residents that had come out to wave
us off after being woken up when we fired up the monkeys!
First stop was at
Oliver’s Mount where we had hoped to shake the buckets in front of the gathering
bikers arriving for the motorcycle race held there. The road was blocked, and
our lead car made the executive decision to make a U-turn and head straight off
via another fuel stop towards the next stop at U-Pullit at Full Sutton. Very
wise move in hindsight as we all know how tricky it is to extract loose change
from motorcycle gear when dressed for bad weather and we would have caused
traffic chaos! We did not know it at this point but with the exception of a 10
minute period it was to rain all day.
We arrived at
U-Pullit to find Dave Stansfield and John Close had provided refreshments and
even better had arranged dry indoor parking for the photo-shoot – top effort!
After a last go in the bear costume Graeme, Louis and Matt loaded their poorly
monkey and even more poorly Matt into their van and left us for the long drive
home – get well soon Matt.
We had travelled 212 miles at this point and
all the bikes were suffering from electrical gremlins in the rain, loose chains
and even looser fixtures and fittings which required constant tightening as we
rode around. Considering the abuse they were receiving the gallant monkeys were
doing their best to see us to the finish and we were to only lose one more
before the end.
From U-Pullit we had
a scenic route to the centre of Leeds via Elvington, the scene of possibly the
most famous Yorkshire Air Ambulance rescue where on 20
th September
2006 it collected Richard Hammond, the Top Gear presenter, after his 280mph jet
powered car crash. Unfortunately the tartan seated shopper carrying Andy Jones
gave up on the way and had to be carried on the BLD van which gave Andy a chance
to try and dry his jeans out, his choice of clothing had been led by our usual
inaccurate weather forecasts! We also almost lost leg wonder Malcolm Crompton
(so called because he only completed one leg) who was bravely riding wearing
trainers and no socks, when he changed down by mistake and tried to go grass
tracking on his own short cut across the fields. Those that saw him do this
awarded him 10 out of 10 for artistic impression and have only just stopped
laughing. We arrived at Leeds Harley Davidson however the weather prevented
any meaningful bucket shaking but the reception and hot coffee was very
welcome. We were met by Nicky DeWhytell and her long suffering partner Michael
Massen on behalf of the YAA and she was able to thank everyone who had taken
part before Nick Chalkley and Mike McMillan loaded their bikes onto the BLD van
and went straight to Brighouse, Nick to get on the motorway back to
Buckinghamshire and Mike to get the BBQ fired up ready for the triumphant
arrival later in the afternoon. It was Nick’s first monkey event and I hope it
has not put him off, although judging by our phone conversation as he sat
stationary in traffic southbound on the M1 later and he described in great
detail the extensive list of modifications he intends to perform to his bike
before next year’s event perhaps not! Malcolm then took the opportunity to dry
himself in the car whilst Denis took over for the last two legs and we set off
from Leeds with the remaining 6 monkeys,
we had covered 265 miles at this
point.
We were heading for
Northern Assessors at Clayton West but somewhere around the Yorkshire Post
roundabout we lost Colin Waterman. He tried brave heartedly to catch us up but
Martyn had led him to believe we were heading towards the White Rose Centre
whereas in fact we were heading towards IKEA so after phoning the lead car he
decided that it would be best to head straight home, sorry you missed the last
stop and barbeque Colin but thanks anyway! We were now only five, Jon Fawcett
on the black seated shopper, the incredibly resilient Bikesure boys who were
fighting each other for a chance to ride each leg and despite 3 of them still
being learner riders showed us much more experienced riders a thing or two,
Denis Wakefield and me. The sun came out just before Clayton West, ready for
the final photo shoot of the day at
288 miles but as soon as we had set
off again it started raining again for the final run in to BLD in Brighouse
where the barbeque was in full swing.
Mike and Andy worked wonders with the
burgers, beer and sausages and everyone except Jon was relieved to be able to
get into some dry clothes for the drive home, he was riding back – talk about
glutton for punishment! We covered
301 miles in total along some great
roads, through some great scenery (when we could see it through the rain) and
for a great cause which we did not need to use thanks to skilled and safety
conscious riding by all those concerned.
Thank you again to
every one of you that has been involved in whatever capacity. I hope everyone
had a good time and if so please tell all your friends as I would love to
organise a similar event next year. We have learnt a few more lessons and I
have received a few suggestions, the printable ones are as
follows:
Paid for stops are
great for fund raising – do again next year
The best stops are
those with a welcoming committee
To plan a lunch stop
each day that includes a fuel and fettling stop for the bikes to be checked
over, loose bits tightened, chains adjusted and lubricated by competent
mechanics.
We need a dedicated
photographer/video camera person and could use a handlebar mounted camera on one
of the bikes
The lead and tail
vehicles need some sort of signage so people know what we are
doing
We all need to eat
together on the Saturday night
If you would like to take part next time please contact Dickon Tysoe at dtysoe@bankstone.co.uk If you do not already have a monkey bike we can help obtain these from Easy Rider who have once again heavily subsidised the price to help the charity.
You can see the Yorkshire Air Ambulance in action on the television as series 4 of Helicopter Heroes has just started airing on weekday mornings at 9.15 on BBC1. It is also being broadcast in HD for the first time, it is what Sky Plus and the iPlayer were made for!Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor our event: The Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity gets your money faster - and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus an extra 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
So please sponsor us now. Not a penny of your money goes towards the painkillers and osteopathy bills after the event - we pay for these ourselves!